News and reviews from across the worldwide Triratna Buddhist Community (formerly known as the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (FWBO) and Trailokya Bauddha Mahasangha Sahayaka Gana (TBMSG) in India)

Monday, February 01, 2010

Varaprabha is an Indian Order Member who has for some years now been training as a mime artist, with his chosen character being the late great Charlie Chaplain.

He has been active in using his new-found skills to communicate with a wide range of Indians on topics such as debt, alcoholism, craving, and domestic violence. He also conducts workshops teaching mime to children living in TBMSG’s hostels and elsewhere.

Recently FWBO News came across this report of one of his recent workshops in the Indian Express, a major Indian newspaper, under the heading of ‘Charlie regales orphan kids’; and we’re pleased to share it with you. They say -

“The Mukta-Avishkar cultural unit, which works under the auspices of Trailokya Baudhya Maha Sangha (TBMSG), conducted a programme at its orphanage at Pimple Gurav, in Pune, recently. ‘The Change of Mind of Thief Charlie & Arley,’ a mime in which the role of Charlie Chaplin was played by Dhammachari Varaprabha regaled the children.

“The orphanage which has 64 children, is run by a group including Dr. Dinesh Metallu, Prakash Pagnis, and Arun Ovhal. ‘The effort was to create awareness among these children about the vices corrupting the society and how to stay away from them,’ said Dr Metallu.

"‘We teach them Buddha’s way of loving-kindness meditation, maitri bhavana, which means friendship in three stages — self- friendship, friendship towards unknown and friendship towards enemy, and finally on the lines of universal brotherhood, friendship towards the whole world’".

Sadhu Varaprabha!

He is fundraising to continue with his training; if you would like to make a donation please visit his fundraising site www.justgiving.com/varaprabha - where you can also see a video of one of his performances at TBMSG's Bor Dharan retreat centre.

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Triratna Buddhist Community

The Triratna Buddhist Community - formerly known as the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (FWBO) - was founded in 1967 by Sangharakshita. It is now an international movement with activities in more than 20 countries, including India. The Triratna Buddhist Community is a non-sectarian Buddhist movement which seeks promote the practice of Buddhism in a form appropriate to the modern world.

Triratna means "Three Jewels", specifically the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, which are the central foci of a Buddhist's life and practice. They've long been represented in our logo and we're delighted that our name will now reflect them as well.